Saturday, August 13, 2022 at 7:18 PM• Jeroen van Poppel

Erik ten Hag is currently experiencing the next nightmare in the Premier League. With Manchester United last week, the coach was 0-2 behind Brighton & Hove Albion at half-time and faces a historic 4-0 deficit on Saturday after a 45-minute visit to Brentford. United are making it extremely difficult for themselves in London with its own bumblings, including from David de Gea and Christian Eriksen.

Cristiano Ronaldo returned to the starting line-up at Manchester United. Ten Hag considered the superstar fit enough to take over the place in the point of the attack from Eriksen, who was pushed back to midfield. In that line Scott McTominay became a child of the account: the Scot disappeared into the bank. Lisandro Martínez kept his starting spot in the back, while Donny van de Beek and Tyrell Malacia started as reserve.

Manchester United had 68 percent of the ball before half-time, but did not create any real chances. Instead, it was Brentford who took the lead in the tenth minute. Josh Dasilva started from eighteen meters and took advantage of a huge fumble from David de Gea, who let the very tenable ball slip between his hands: 1-0. The goalkeeper replaced Eriksen eight minutes later. The midfielder, who was continuously whistled by the fans of his previous club, lost the ball in his own penalty area under enormous pressure from compatriot Mathias Jensen. The Dane then simply pushed in: 2-0.

A corner kick was the basis of the next goal for Manchester United after half an hour of play. Ivan Toney towered over the defense at the far post and headed the ball back into the goal mouth, where Martínez failed to stop Ben Mee from tapping: 3-0. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Ten Hag had to watch as Brentfort counterattacked to 4-0 in minute 35. Diogo Dalot lacked speed to keep up with the deep Bryan Mbeumo. The right striker received a good pass from Toney and made it easy from close range.